Wilmington Municipal Golf Course revamp a tricky proposition

Saturday

Jan 11, 2014 at 9:50 PM

The upcoming renovation has met plenty of questions and a little hesitation.

By Dan SpearsDan.Spears@StarNewsOnline.com

With an expected budget of around $700,000, the upcoming renovation to the Wilmington Municipal Golf Course has met plenty of questions and a little hesitation.After all, those with long ties to the 88-year-old facility want to see their home course improved but don't want to lose its difficulty, uniqueness and charm.Golf course architect John Fought, hired by the city last year as the project consultant, addressed many of those concerns on Thursday night, presenting his plan to a full house at the Halyburton Park Events Center.

Fought said this will be the fourth course he's renovated that was originally designed by Donald Ross. His experience with Ross courses, including Pine Needles, leads him to believe that Wilmington doesn't need a huge overhaul, just a return to the original plan.The greens that grace the Muni today are, for the most part, grass planted atop the "sand greens" built when the course was founded. According to Fought, Ross' original plans had larger greens complexes with more rolloff positions, and he'd like to return those to play.That means the course's infamously small landing areas would grow, but not by ridiculous numbers. The course's toughest holes – Nos. 1, 3, 10 and 17 – would swell the most, but the average growth would be from approximately 2,500 square feet to approximately 5,500 square feet.In terms of yardage, that's about three steps deeper and eight steps wider."I thought these were some of the smallest greens I'd ever seen," Fought said during his Thursday presentation.

The increased area will give course superintendents more pin options and alleviate overuse for the tens of thousands of rounds the course supports annually. A question was posed about putting, if there would be less "straight" putts. Fought responded that Ross didn't use tiers in his design, including the Muni. Golfers won't see shelving in the future, but should expect more putts with break as the slight raising of some greens would give holes toward the edges a different look.> The area surrounding many greens will be reshaped to allow drainage and eliminate the spongy area that seems to persistently surround the putting surfaces when water runs off them. In addition to reshaping greens, a new irrigation system will be installed around all the complexes.The Muni didn't get irrigation until the 1950s, after Ross' death. Therefore, Fought said, the architect couldn't give his thoughts on adjustments made by that improvement. Fought said his design takes that into consideration; it's not a strict return to Ross' original design, but heavily incorporates technological advances.> The surfaces will also be redone with a mini-verde Bermuda grass, giving them better maintenance potential throughout the year and can be groomed well in virtually all weather, including any cold snaps in the winter.The increased use of Bermuda grass does require more sunlight, meaning that some trees near greens will be taken down – most notably to the left of the 12th and 14th holes. Fought and Muni head professional David Donovan, however, hope to plant trees in some areas that could use them, including down the right side of the ninth fairway.>Finally, the bunkering around all greens (and, hopefully, the few remaining fairway bunkers, Fought said) would be restored, with grass fronts and proper drainage to avoid ponding as much as possible.

> Fought said the crowd of approximately 85 people was one of the bigger ones for his presentations."I've done a bunch of different groups," he said. "Obviously, this is a very enthusiastic community about its golf course. I think that's great."> The club's 25-round card will be examined once the timeline of construction is established at the Jan. 21 city council meeting. While not confirming a plan, head professional David Donovan expects some sort of extension for use of that card.> Donovan also said the course would be revisited by the Carolinas Golf Association for new rating and slope numbers, for handicap purposes. With the length of the course not changing by this renovation, don't expect those numbers to change drastically.